Needles and pins

Well, yesterday was D-day. Or should I say B-day. B for Biopsy.

To say I was dreading it would be an understatement. Still, I had nowhere to run (even if I was able to), so I had to go. Besides, my wife wouldn’t have allowed me to miss it. But I’m still a coward and may have run if the people around me hadn’t been so strong and supportive.

I have to go to the Nuffield hospital in Oxford for all my treatment. Not as easy as going to the local general, but the upside is the the Nuffield (hereafter called the NOC) is brand-spanking new and one of four orthapaedic specialist centres in the country. Take a look at the website and you’ll see what a radical piece of architecture it is, at least for an NHS edifice. Half the car park is still a building site so I don’t think it’s been operational for very long. Inside it doesn’t even smell like a hospital, for which I was grateful. Still, the NHS as an organisation doesn’t change just because we were in a new building; the clinic was running late and I was seen for my 10.15 appointment at 12 noon. Sigh.

I saw the scans for the first time. The tumour is quite easily distinguishable from the rest of the knee. It appears as a darkened mass, sitting right on top of the bone. The good news is that it doesn’t extend into the joint itself. We discussed the probable surgery, but as that was the same as last week’s discussion there was nothing new to report there. I’m also to have a CAT scan of my chest as a follow-up to the chest xray, just to be absolutely sure that there are no secondary tumours there. If there are then they will be treated with the same chemo sessions as for the knee.

To my great surprise, once the doctor knew my wife is a nurse, he asked if she wanted to take my bloods! This was exactly what I wanted to happen so I was much happier. We met the specialist nurse, who is really nice too. She arranged for a pair of crutches for me as well so now I really look the part. She also went down to the biopsy team to discuss having me sedated during the procedure as the doctor had said it wasn’t an option. My wife performed fantastically and took 4 different samples from me – after I had my skin frozen with some special spray. She said she was a bit nervous about it, but as she does it every day I was completely confident.

The biopsy was something I hope I never have to repeat. The doctor was not keen on having me sedated at all. He would have done so if I had really insisted, however I agreed to local anaesthetic after having the skin frozen again. Once the anaesthetic was in, I felt no pain, much to my relief. However, the sensations as he pushed, pulled and dug into the tumour with some fearsomely long needles was extremely unpleasant. After 20 minutes of poking around it was all over. He managed to get 3 good samples, which hopefully should be enough for the lab to get the results they need and which also means I won’t have to go through it again.

The doctor also prescribed me some morphine for my pain. Seemed a bit radical to me, but if it meant I had a good night’s sleep then I’m willing to try anything. I did actually sleep rather well, 7/10 instead of my usual 5/10. I only woke at 4am to visit the bathroom otherwise I think I would have made it to 5.30, which was when I woke again. The drugs, combined with the mental and physical exhaustion of yesterday were what was needed I suppose! We’ll see how I get on tonight.

Today, my knee feels like it’s been run over. There’s a bit of bruising where the biopsy needles went it as well. Still, I have the crutches to help with the walking so I’ll make the most of them today. Onwards to next Monday and results day………